PESHAWAR: A resident has moved the Peshawar High Court seeking orders for the federal government to construct a new international airport in Peshawar in light of the current and future needs and to relocate the existing one there.

Mohammad Jawaid Iqbal of Peshawar’s University Town filed a petition saying the high court should direct the respondents, including the federal government, to initiate the process of acquiring land for the early construction of a new international airport at a suitable spacious place.

He said a new international airport with longer runways was necessary for handling heavy air traffic load, especially of wide-bodied modern aircraft, and handling large passenger arrivals.

The petitioner said the current airport should be relocated and its land and buildings should be used for roads to ease traffic congestion in the areas around it.

Petitioner insists current airport causing problems for people living around it

The respondents in the petition are the federal government through the establishment secretary, Pakistan Air Force through the defence ministry, Civil Aviation Authority through its secretary, Pakistan International Airlines through its chief executive officer, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary, and provincial secretaries of the finance and local government departments.

The petitioner, whose lawyer is Malik Mohammad Ajmal, said that the present Peshawar Bacha Khan International Airport was situated in the centre of the city and had created multiple problems for the people in the areas situated around it.

He said that the construction of a new international airport would help improve flow of traffic in the area.

The petitioner said that a small airport was built in 1926-27 at the current location by the then British-India government, while the population of the village of ‘Kooza Abdara’ was shifted to other areas.

He added that the airport catered for both commercial and military needs at that time.

The petitioner said that the airport’s importance grew manifold after the creation of Pakistan and its status was changed from domestic to that of an international one in 1965.

He said that with the passage of time, the size of the airport expanded due to the growth of air traffic in modern era and was the fourth largest airport in the country in terms of international flights and was being used by both domestic and prominent international air carriers.

The petitioner also gave comparison of the number of people per international airports in a province saying Sindh had 16 million people per international airport, Punjab 22 million, Balochistan 12.5 million and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 35.5 million.

He added that the current Peshawar airport catered for much larger population compared to other airports and that Pakistan Diaspora from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa used that airport extensively as it was the only international airport in the province.

The petitioner said that the Bacha Khan International Airport had also been used by the PAF as a military base.

He claimed that from environmental point of view, it was also necessary to shift the airport from the centre of the city as it was surrounded by residential areas and noise and air pollution had made the life of residents miserable.

Published in Dawn,May 3rd, 2022